An American Indian drum song honored state Sen. Pete Suazo as a fallen warrior during a public memorial service Friday at the Capitol.
Alicia Suazo recalled the day her husband, taking inspiration from a Hispanic state senator in New Mexico where the family lived in the early 1980s, decided to run for office.
"This Chicano boy is going to be a senator, not in New Mexico, but in Utah where the work is going to be doubly hard and the victory glorious," he told her.
Suazo, 50, died Sunday in an all-terrain vehicle rollover while on a hunting trip near Joe's Valley in the Manti-La Sal National Forest. A Democrat and the Utah Legislature's only Hispanic member, Suazo represented Salt Lake
City's multicultural west side. He was first elected to the Utah House in 1992 and Utah Senate in 1996.
An estimated 1,000 people, including Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Gov. Mike Leavitt and the Most Rev. George Niederauer, crowded the Capitol rotunda for the service marked by tribal chants and Spanish ballads. Suazo's two oldest sons, Travis and Abel, both incarcerated in federal prisons on drug-related crimes, obtained special permission from the U.S. District Court to attend.
A wooden box containing Suazo's ashes lay on a table next to his photo and an American flag. The ashes will be spread over some of his favorite places.
"He used to worship in the mountains. That was his church, so that's were his ashes are going to go," said Suazo's lifelong friend Judge Andrew Valdez.
A Utah intertribal drum group concluded the ceremony with a "fallen warrior" song in honor of Suazo, who found spirituality in American Indian culture.
Family and friends described him as a gentlemanly warrior who doggedly fought for the underdog but did it with a grace and diplomacy.
During an eulogy of her husband delivered with sons Emilio and Julio at her side, Alicia Suazo recounted him debating hate-crimes legislation on the Senate floor with "his passion, his eloquence."
"It made me want to stand up and say, 'That man is my husband,' " she said. Then she recalled how discouraged he was after the Legislature again rejected his bill. But after seeking solace with his pet birds and dog, she said, he bounced back to fight another day.
A boxing fan and referee, he took great pride in his Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) status.
In college, Alicia Suazo said, Suazo first introduced himself as her "million-dollar baby." She said she wondered when the money would start rolling in.
"That's not at all what he meant," she said, adding she later learned Suazo was talking about being rich in family and friends and community.
Bishop Niederauer described Suazo as a man who wanted everyone to have food, clothing and shelter.
"Our friend Pete Suazo shared these longings with us. He worked long and hard for us to overcome these obstacles," he said.
Valdez called Suazo a true friend.
"He was a decent and good person. Pete would give you the shirt off his back. He would share his sandwich. He would share his dreams," Valdez said after the service.
"I think Pete should be remembered as a Utah hero."
An artist crafted a bust of Suazo that family friend Jim Gonzales hopes to have bronzed and placed in a state building.
E-mail: romboy@desnews.com